Guest Designer - Laura Barefoot

How many times have you rushed to a party or were in need of a card for a gift and had none? Handmade cards mean so much to when you give them away. Today's guest designer, Laura Barefoot, is going to share some of her tips to making beautiful handmade cards.

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE everything in the Animal Crackers collection, but especially the little die-cut animals and glittered paper.  How do they make it stick like that?!  I feel like I have a NASA invention in my studio.  It's so nice when I don't have to worry about the glitter getting all over the place and eventually not being on my project at all.  I can't tell you how many times I've gone to work looking like I've just been visited by a swarm of little fairies.  That's not exactly apart of the Army uniform.  Uncle Sam isn't exactly a glitter-lovin' dude, you know.

Here are some easy steps to create this card.

1. Cut glitter dot paper to 4 1/4" x 11." Score and fold to create a card.

TIP: Not all cards have to open from the side!

2. Cut a piece of orange polka dot paper to 3 3/4" x 4 3/4" and scallop punch the short end. Mat on a dark brown piece of cardstock and trim. Adhere this piece to the front of the card.

3. Cut a piece of stripe paper to 1 3/4" x 4 1/4" and mat on dark brown cardstock. Tie a piece of ribbon to the lower half of this piece and adhere to the front of the card as shown.

4. Cut a piece of light pink paper to 2 1/2" x 3" and mat on dark brown cardstock.

5. Using a piercing template and a paper piercer, create a boarder around the pink piece of paper. Apply to the front of the card using a dimensional adhesive (such as Making Memories' Sticky Squares).

6. Attach die-cut elephant to the center of pink block using a dimensional adhesive.

7. Attach self-adhesive gemstones to the front of the card.

8. Step back and admire your work.

As a bonus, here are two more card ideas.